nue. Also it seems to me it would
be a good thing to try and see if, on the principle on which at present
the state possesses public warships, it would not be possible to secure
public merchant vessels, to be let out on the security of guarantors
just like any other public property. If the plan were found feasible
this public merchant navy would be a large source of extra revenue.

(25) Reading, with Zurborg, {epi one te}.

IV

I come to a new topic. I am persuaded that the establishment of the
silver mines on a proper footing (1) would be followed by a large
increase in wealth apart from the other sources of revenue. And I would
like, for the benefit of those who may be ignorant, to point out what
the capacity of these mines really is. You will then be in a position
to decide how to turn them to better account. It is clear, I presume,
to every one that these mines have for a very long time been in active
operation; at any rate no one will venture to fix the date at which they
first began to be worked. (2) Now in spite of the fact that the silver
ore has been dug and carried out for so long a time, I would ask you to
note that the mounds of rubbish so shovelled out are but a fractional
portion of the series of hillocks containing veins of silver, and as
yet unquarried. Nor is the silver-bearing region gradually becoming
circumscribed. On the contrary it is evidently extending in wider area
from year to year. That is to say, during the period in which thousands
of workers (3) have been employed within the mines no hand was ever
stopped for want of work to do. Rather, at any given moment, the work to
be done was more than enough for the hands employed. And so it is
to-day with the owners of slaves working in the mines; no one dreams
of reducing the number of his hands. On the contrary, the object is
perpetually to acquire as many additional hands as the owner possibly
can. The fact is that with few hands to dig and search, the find of
treasure will be small, but with an increase in labour the discovery of
the ore itself is more than proportionally increased. So much so, that
of all operations with which I am acquainted, this is the only one
in which no sort of jealousy is felt at a further development of the
industry. (4) I may go a step farther; every proprietor of a farm will
be able to tell you exactly how many yoke of oxen are sufficient for the
estate, and how many farm hands. To send into the field more than